Maybe it's nostalgia or just pure burnout but I did not have as much in wotlk as I did in vanilla or tbc. I think the developers went too mainstream and focused to much on the profit model giving players anything they ask for by just putting a price tag on it. While not all that came with this expansion is bad, many things have really irked me enough to take a long break from the game.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view.
Wrath of the Lich King was a slight dissapointment for me. The questing and dungeons seemed to be tuned to be way too easy. Some things were improved, 5 mans and raids no longer had an hour's worth of trash that you had to go through to get to the bosses, they just had a couple of groups of minions you had to quickly kill before you got to the important boss which I liked. I did not like the vehicle fights in this expansion, they had the potential to be really fun but they were tuned to be way too difficult so even if you were pro at playing your class, you would die repeatedly while using a vehicle in a quest or in an instance which was not fun. Naxx was remade to be the entry level raid for this expansion since not many people experienced it in the original Vanilla release (myself included). It was tuned to be very easy and most bosses were loot pinatas with the exception of 1 or 2. It was alright but too easy to be that exciting.

Ulduar was the next level raid in this expansion, that was a fun instance. The first time my guild and I engaged XT-002 and heard it speak in a whiney teenage voice we all cracked up laughing and completely wiped, that was my favourite part of the whole expansion. I loved how Blizzard takes this mean looking robot and then gives it the voice of a whiney teenager, who came up with that? It was great. The patch which brought out Trial of the grand champion (I think it was called that, I'll refer to it as Totgc) and the LFD tool (I think it was the same patch, it was around the same time) is where things started to go downhill a bit. Totgc was released a bit too soon when most guilds were still progressing in Ulduar, so it kind of ruined my guilds progression since it had better gear we never bothered to finish Ulduar despite being on the 2nd last boss. Now I think what really started to lead to the demise of WoW was the introduction of the LFD tool and the 5-man heroic dungeons being tuned to be too easy. Tanks who played in Vanilla and the Burning Crusade would start to set up the pull and give CC instructions while the new players who just started playing in Wrath would just yell "gogogogo" and then force you to chain pull the whole instance. But the instance was tuned so easy that you could actually chain pull the whole instance and survive so the heroics just became a zerg fest instead of a place you needed to use skill. Activision purchased Blizzard shortly before this patch so I am not sure if that had anything to do with the game being tuned too easy or not. All I know is that WoW was at its peak of subscribers just berfore this patch was released and it started bleeding subscribers from this patch on.
I figure it was either LFD or the Activision purchase or a combination of both that caused this, those were the only things that changed around that time.

Ice Crown Citadel was kind of a meh raid instance for me but people seemed to like it alright, probably because the Lich King was such a loved character by the lore fans. Really the game got kind of boring for me after Ulduar was no longer the highest expansion, but I still kept playing, I was still having a decent time raiding with my guild. I'll give this expansion a 7/10.…Expand

Ok expansion, Vanilla 10 BC 8 Wrath 7 Cata 6 Panda 4 . Even if wrath had atmosphere, the lich king fight was amazing, this expansion was the beginning of casual play. they had dumb down every raid to let even the dumbest raiders to be able to do a given raid !!!

Wrath of the Lich King is more of the same though polished from previous incarnations and with a new class added on. WoW defines player vs. environment gameplay. No one does it better. Unfortunately the innovative quests are starting to become repetative and, like all MMOs that broaden to this scope and depth, it seems like no one in all the Outlands and Azeroth can help themselves. The Wrath of the Lich King is more of the same though polished from previous incarnations and with a new class added on. WoW defines player vs. environment gameplay. No one does it better. Unfortunately the innovative quests are starting to become repetative and, like all MMOs that broaden to this scope and depth, it seems like no one in all the Outlands and Azeroth can help themselves. The questing modle is feeling dated but the team manages to string together quests as they have done before to take you across the continent in an orderly fashion. The graphics are the same but the presentation has been improved. There is a difference but I wonder how much more this engine can be improved upon. In terms of difficulty...it's not. Since the beginning WoW has been the definition of an MMO set on easy difficulty. The quests tell you where to go. Key figures in each quest are (usually) there. The only thing they didn't put in is a trail of bread crumbs for you to follow. This has opened the doors to people who didn't particularly enjoy the less than descriptive questing in other MMOs or the grinding required to get to the next level. It also helps that everyone is here. Once the population has chosen an MMO it is very hard to pull them away. EQ1 was the champion for a long time and WoW came out at the right time to pull them away from an aging model that was transitioning to a sequal. This all adds up to most people will continue to play WotLK even if they don't particularly enjoy it anymore. While it is still the king I believe WoW is aging. PvP is done better in Warhammer...one aspect of MMOs. PvE-wise...you can't do better than WotLK for now.…Expand

The quests were not my personal favorite... But it surely beats Cataclysm or the Burning Crusade. It wasn't the Lich King that made it great, nor the Death Knights. But, the music, glyphs, class changes and the nordic environment made it the greatest WoW expansion for me.

Though WOTLK gave us some fine additions such as Achievements that gave non-hardcore players an alternative way of enjoying the game, WOTLK was a mixed bag. It was the expansion that began to chip away the magic and wonder of a game that I had previously loved. I didn't hate WOTLK - there were many things I really liked about it. However, many of the added races such as the Vrykul,Though WOTLK gave us some fine additions such as Achievements that gave non-hardcore players an alternative way of enjoying the game, WOTLK was a mixed bag. It was the expansion that began to chip away the magic and wonder of a game that I had previously loved. I didn't hate WOTLK - there were many things I really liked about it. However, many of the added races such as the Vrykul, Tuskarr, Taunka and Gorloc and Wolvar ranged from superfluous (like the Taunka) to out of place (the Vrykul) to ridiculous (the Tuskarr, the Gorloc and the Wolvar). The ridiculous races gave the game a puerile quality that eroded the dark tone that WOTLK was trying to set by introducing slapstick, childish humour with these new races. This created a sense of dissonance with the feelings of impending doom caused by the return of the Lich King and the accompanying scourge threat to the world. There were also zones in Northrend that seemed redundant (ie: Borean Tundra is the same zone level as Howling Fjord) and there was too much overlap in terms of zone levels, so players didn't get to experience Northrend in its entirety because they often had to choose between zones, whereas Burning Crusade had a more balanced approach in this way. Other zones such as Crystalsong Forest seemed to have little to no function or relevance at all except for housing the city of Dalaran. I also want to say that I wasn't fond of how they handled the Death Knight class, which are GOOD, but they're not great and are still seen as a bit of a joke among the core classes because they're somewhat redundant - they're not the best tank (unless the player is really skilled - and many I've played with too many who aren't), their DPS is sketchy (again, it depends on if they player really knows this class inside out, as DKs seem to be less forgiving of mediocrity than other classes) and they really haven't found a useful place among the base classes. I think they would have been more functional as a hybrid class (tank/DPS/heals), and they could have done something interesting with them as a healer, using weird demonic spells to heal (because lore-wise, I think makes sense that healers would have been converted to DKs). Among things I liked: Achievements, the expanded lore of the DKs and the fall of Arthas, the coupe attempt against the Undercity, the beautifully crafted city of Dalaran and easter eggs like Higher Learning that encouraged players to explore and rewarded them with pets, mounts or titles. I really loved that Blizzard brought back titles, something they seemed to briefly touch upon and abandoned without explanation in Vanilla WoW, as well as the addition of the Inscription profession, which felt far less painful than Jewelcrafting, a profession introduced in BC that I still hate with a passion for reasons I can't explain. I loved the addition of Wintergrasp and the use of siege vehicles. The introduction of BoA gear was an idea I was somewhat warm to at first, but as the game has progressed, BoAs have proven to be a scourge in low-level PvP BGs/zones. BoAs give players without it an unfair disadvantage and I feel it's broken the lower-level PvP aspect of the game as they've added BoAs in subsequent expansions. Though I don't hate WOTLK, I didn't like the precedent it set for later expansions with ridiculous races, a redundant new class, overlapping zone levels that prevented the player from fully experiencing the new content and the introduction of BoAs that later resulted in a broken low-level PvP experience for new players (or players who didn't feel like grinding). WOTLK did a LOT of things right and they did them well. Though the mistakes they made in this expansion didn't break the game for me, it started to show cracks that subsequent expansions shattered, irrevocably changing a fantastic game into a mediocre experience that I no longer enjoy.…Expand

The good: DeathKnight was cool, new story, lots of cool things to try. Nice start off story. Working for the LK as a bad guy was fun. The Bad: Then bam...the lich king lays us off and we have to re-due mass quest in outworld? Can't go to the new land because everything there is too high. Start fresh with newbie profession? Lame. There is a mechanic issue here too. In the begging LVL The good: DeathKnight was cool, new story, lots of cool things to try. Nice start off story. Working for the LK as a bad guy was fun. The Bad: Then bam...the lich king lays us off and we have to re-due mass quest in outworld? Can't go to the new land because everything there is too high. Start fresh with newbie profession? Lame. There is a mechanic issue here too. In the begging LVL 55 to 58, you kick ass and feel like deathknight. After your boss is gone, kicking ass becomes really hard and you feel like one moment you are hero, next avg slub joe. Being a death knight and working for the litch king was very cool, but basically ending it as your boss is gone and now your unemployment, really? We play these games to escape the current events. Is the lich king secretly a GM exec? Not really worth $80 (wife's account and mine), $20 sure. I am feeling let down, and bailing.…Expand

A Let down for me. I been playing the game for about 3 years and i have to say the expansion is a let down. Mainly raiding content, for example Naxx was just a tuned 80 instance already used in Classic. I was really excited about Ulduar coming out, unfortunately that instance is pretty long and dull, Just another long raiding instance that can take hours to complete, and the only good A Let down for me. I been playing the game for about 3 years and i have to say the expansion is a let down. Mainly raiding content, for example Naxx was just a tuned 80 instance already used in Classic. I was really excited about Ulduar coming out, unfortunately that instance is pretty long and dull, Just another long raiding instance that can take hours to complete, and the only good fight in there is Mimiron. Also the game is tarnished by a bad online community. Some people think there a big deal but to be honest they just need a kick in the head, just another Blizzard Customer.…Expand

I started Wow, when The Burning crusade was released, and i thouraghly enjoyed it. i loved the PVE, the 25 mans, karazhan runs, PVP. it was pretty well balanced and thought out quite a bit. I had high hopes for Wotlk, but it never materialised. Leveling in Northrand was boring as it was repetitve, the character changes we're quite outlandish and had too many things wrong about them, I started Wow, when The Burning crusade was released, and i thouraghly enjoyed it. i loved the PVE, the 25 mans, karazhan runs, PVP. it was pretty well balanced and thought out quite a bit. I had high hopes for Wotlk, but it never materialised. Leveling in Northrand was boring as it was repetitve, the character changes we're quite outlandish and had too many things wrong about them, finally when you reach 80 - it was EASY, i meean extremely easy, you could complete Naxxramas in leveling gear , and do it in 3 hours. the Music was teribly composed, giving the game a cheesy ambiance. once you had completed evetything, you were stuck with this mundane content for months. Blizzards intention was to make it easier, so they didnt spend time developing worthwile hard content. They made the game extremely casual and hard for any Vanilla or TBC raider to enjoy. i have no delusions of nostalgia when it comes to WOW, overall it was an amazing experiance, but WOTLK caused that expirance to end abruptly. 5/10…Expand

Very well put together game, but with a very short game life. Having played it for 8 weeks, and completing almost all the content it was back to sitting about doing nothing for hours, or completing achievements, which are really for those who if not playing WoW, have nothing else to do.

When I saw the Lich King Trailer I said to myself, "Its World of Warcraft! =D. After installing I sat in a one hour queue trying to log in and once I got there I saw Northrend was flooded with hundreds of heroes all killing the same thing, and the docks filled to the max with fishermen and women, and I said to myself, "Its World of Warcraft! =(. Maybe the WOW background is growing thin on When I saw the Lich King Trailer I said to myself, "Its World of Warcraft! =D. After installing I sat in a one hour queue trying to log in and once I got there I saw Northrend was flooded with hundreds of heroes all killing the same thing, and the docks filled to the max with fishermen and women, and I said to myself, "Its World of Warcraft! =(. Maybe the WOW background is growing thin on me but if you are on the fence as to whether to get it or not, I suggest you wait until the flood subsides. I might return to it in a few months when the population dies down a bit…Expand

Same graphics, not much improvement even though the box says it is. The only fun I had in beta was the Death Knight, PVE is just more of the same excpet for the arial battles, which are innovative to a point. They bring back Ungoro crater and mix it with Nessaringway (cant he just die?) the whole land is out of sinc, frozen areas are right next to warm area with trees flowers etc just 40 Same graphics, not much improvement even though the box says it is. The only fun I had in beta was the Death Knight, PVE is just more of the same excpet for the arial battles, which are innovative to a point. They bring back Ungoro crater and mix it with Nessaringway (cant he just die?) the whole land is out of sinc, frozen areas are right next to warm area with trees flowers etc just 40 feet down, no real transition area. lts like blizzard doesnt think at times.…Expand

This expansion was very good at first, but got old very quickly. It was on a downhill since 3.2, and raiding Lich King for an entire year, was the most boring and stale era in history of WoW. The only thing that kept it alive was the hype generated by Cataclysm.

There were some very enjoyable raid encounters in this addon but overal it was far too easy and honestly wow started to get dumbed down and get boring with this addon. Took only a few days to reach max level. While leveling up the "normal" difficulties of instances already felt like pure waste of time and the "heroic" versions were very easy to finish first time playing them soon becomingThere were some very enjoyable raid encounters in this addon but overal it was far too easy and honestly wow started to get dumbed down and get boring with this addon. Took only a few days to reach max level. While leveling up the "normal" difficulties of instances already felt like pure waste of time and the "heroic" versions were very easy to finish first time playing them soon becoming absolutely obsolete. Gold had no value anymore. Any player not beeing fully equipped with epic items after like one week at max level got called noob. The complete gameplay changed to repeating boring quests in boring instances on daily base to collect for pointless item updates. Well and once you were half finished collecting your items blizzard just released a new content patch with new items, nerfed old icontent and made all your past "efforts" regarding items and achievements wortless.…Expand

its basically more of the same if thats all you wanted then it meets all your expectations however if wow is getting a little stle or you were hoping to seee somthing new and exciting then am afraid this aint it i feel that blizzard could have done more the landscapes have been recycled from previuos ideas and that everything feels kinda samey the dungeons as well suffer from that beenits basically more of the same if thats all you wanted then it meets all your expectations however if wow is getting a little stle or you were hoping to seee somthing new and exciting then am afraid this aint it i feel that blizzard could have done more the landscapes have been recycled from previuos ideas and that everything feels kinda samey the dungeons as well suffer from that been here before feelin dont get me wrong it looks pretty and the music is suberb but ground breakign it aint to be honest it all feel kinda lazy.…Expand

Outstanding expansion! I fully agree with all of the reviews on all but one point, a point severe enough to drop the rating considerably. It seems that WoW has become a victim of it's own success and now resorts to using queue's to put paying customers in line to play the game. I've seen people over 1k in que with wait times nearing an hour. I've got time to write this Outstanding expansion! I fully agree with all of the reviews on all but one point, a point severe enough to drop the rating considerably. It seems that WoW has become a victim of it's own success and now resorts to using queue's to put paying customers in line to play the game. I've seen people over 1k in que with wait times nearing an hour. I've got time to write this review because I'm in one for 45 minutes. By my calculations, with nearly 12 million users, assuming 11 million actually pay (aren't free users), at let's say an average of $10 per month (to make the math easy), Blizzard is raking in $1.3 Billion per year. Doesn't seem like a no brainer that they could spend a few thousand of that on a few more servers that can handle the capacity? Sorry Blizz...you lose some points when you force people to be unable to play. Sure, you offer free server transfers but what good would that do when the heart of your game is social networking? We can't socially network with people on different servers and unless 100% of our friends and people we've met over time move with us, causing over population on that server, we still have the same issue. Great expansion, mediocre capacity planning.…Expand

I like the expansion but I will have to agree with some people, while its no where near a 0 or a 3, its the same old stuff, and Blizzard just doesnt seem to really keep areas that transcend to other areas, like you wouldnt find a desert or a wasteland right next o a forrest, you would hit scrubland between. yet cold and warm are right next to each other a few stories above or below. The I like the expansion but I will have to agree with some people, while its no where near a 0 or a 3, its the same old stuff, and Blizzard just doesnt seem to really keep areas that transcend to other areas, like you wouldnt find a desert or a wasteland right next o a forrest, you would hit scrubland between. yet cold and warm are right next to each other a few stories above or below. The first few dungeons were worse than TBC, while they look sweet, they are boring runs. the vehicle combat seems out of place in a fantasy realm, thats were the warhammer theme did it better, at least it was gnome powered or some animal. yes I know that dorfs had tanks and stuff but they werent being used and you didnt see them in use. its a fun expansion but its no 10.…Expand

Just more of the same great stuff. WoW is a great game...no question... but they refuse to fix the same problems they've always had. PvP is unbalanced and gear dependent. A few bad (ie. immature) players tend to ruin the game for others, and with the recent expansion (and tech problems) the in-game GMs are about 6 hours away. Why bother reporting players, bots or other cheaters?Just more of the same great stuff. WoW is a great game...no question... but they refuse to fix the same problems they've always had. PvP is unbalanced and gear dependent. A few bad (ie. immature) players tend to ruin the game for others, and with the recent expansion (and tech problems) the in-game GMs are about 6 hours away. Why bother reporting players, bots or other cheaters? Nothing is ever done about it.…Expand

Compared to my experience pre Wrath of the Lich King, less fun. With that said, having played since release it was a great deal of fun, though all content as far as raids go felt "nerfed" especially in early tiers - while they were 'current content'. The player vs. player aspects of the game are quite fun as always. This expansion also introduced the achievement system (implemented preCompared to my experience pre Wrath of the Lich King, less fun. With that said, having played since release it was a great deal of fun, though all content as far as raids go felt "nerfed" especially in early tiers - while they were 'current content'. The player vs. player aspects of the game are quite fun as always. This expansion also introduced the achievement system (implemented pre wrath release). Overall decent, but it is no Burning Crusade as far as 'epic feel' and difficulty.…Expand

Its nice that random heroics, heroic difficulty for raids, and some effort to balance classes so that you can pick and choose between different ones for the same buffs came along, but this was the casual expansion. All the bad players that got 12/12 because there wasn't much to worry about are now wiping on trash that you have to cc because they don't know any better. Need to spam >1Its nice that random heroics, heroic difficulty for raids, and some effort to balance classes so that you can pick and choose between different ones for the same buffs came along, but this was the casual expansion. All the bad players that got 12/12 because there wasn't much to worry about are now wiping on trash that you have to cc because they don't know any better. Need to spam >1 heal spell? Too difficult. Need to get used to a priority system for dps in heroics? Too difficult. Thanks to this, Blizzard will have to nerf everything hard they come out with for a long time since you just can't take anyone outside of a good guild.…Expand

Frosty region , cool DeathKnights, nice missions and a lvl cap up to 80. Face it, WOTLK may not be the most intriguing addition, yet more of the same, but it still a nice force to the WOW formula keeping it alive a bit longer.

So far this expansion is very enjoyable. In fact I may rate this up a couple of more points, if, and only if the endgame with the Lich King lives up to the hype. I can already tell that not enough changed in Cataclysm to make it worth the money. Namely that there are so many unpopulated areas that many of us veteran players love. There just isn't reason to even go to any of them. I thinkSo far this expansion is very enjoyable. In fact I may rate this up a couple of more points, if, and only if the endgame with the Lich King lives up to the hype. I can already tell that not enough changed in Cataclysm to make it worth the money. Namely that there are so many unpopulated areas that many of us veteran players love. There just isn't reason to even go to any of them. I think they need to spread it out and increase their fan base again, but it might be too late. World of Warcraft is showing signs of aging but is still fun overall. The only thing not fun about the game is the price, which hasn't changed since it first came out. As much as I love the game it simply isn't worth the $15 a month and with as many subscribers that they had you'd think they would be giving more to them. That's not the case, after Blizzard was bought it seems that their new owners capitalized on the success and what it feels like, somewhat downgraded it. Glad the instances work right because I quit playing right before I finished Burning Crusade and only came back with the free 10 days for coming back. I saw leveling had become easier and now want end game content for personal reasons. If I stay really depends on motivation to stay and if they finally drop that monthly price. I wouldn't count on it soon.…Expand

Dungeon finder optimized dungeon finding but it removed alot of the social immersion of exploring. The token system to get items was good. Didn't finish the expansion. Not really worth the $15 a month. PvP was still horrendously bad. World PvP was where it was at back in the day.

Seeing the innumerable changes and tune-ups to the game engine and the rules, you get the sense that World of Warcraft is a finely-tuned machine that its makers just can't stop tinkering with in an obsessive effort to keep it fresh, relevant, and above all, fun. For now, mission accomplished.

Wrath of the Lich King takes the best-of-breed MMO and improves everything about it. It's a work of supreme confidence and quality that is twice as fun and ten times as beautiful as classic WOW, not to mention anything else in the genre. But above all else - in the breathtaking sweep of Northrend, in the assured, epic storytelling, in the constellation of brilliant quests - it is a grand adventure. Perhaps the grandest adventure in all gaming.